DISCLAIMER: Gossip Girl and its characters are the property of Cecily von Ziegesar and Warner Bros. No infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SERIES: Part Eleven of "Not a Walk in the Park"
FEEDBACK: To DaneWrights[at]gmail.com
Sleeping Arrangements
By Dane
"No, Serena. Absolutely not!" Lily van der Woodsen's tone indicated that there was no room for discussion, negotiation or begging.
It took everything Serena had to not stomp her foot like a six-year old denied ice cream and whine why not. She would have failed if a certain brunette she was trying to impress wasn't a couple of feet away.
"If I'm coming back to our two-bedroom suite at the hotel, where are we all supposed to sleep…and just exist?" Eric asked. He winced as he turned his head, but managed to wink at his sister when their mother covered her eyes in exasperation.
"Lily, it's really no problem. The guestroom at the penthouse is available." Blair offered helpfully, if not innocently. The possibility of significant alone time with Serena had pumped the blood a bit harder through her veins when her body had been pleasantly humming since she had woken up in Serena's arms again just two hours before.
Blair opened her eyes when she felt long arms pull her back against the warm body wrapped around her own. Soft hands raised the sleeves on the robe she had slept in and brushed down her arms, leaving gooseflesh in their wake. Full lips on her neck stole her breath. "If this is the way you touch me while you're asleep, I'm not sure I can take it once you're awake."
She felt Serena's chest move against her back when she chuckled. "I seem to remember a certain someone with wandering hands when she woke up yesterday."
"Was that just yesterday?" She turned in the circle of Serena's arms. Blonde hair stood on end and semi-dark circles were still evident under tired eyes, but all Blair really registered was the love she could feel in her best friend's embrace.
"I think I could get addicted to waking up with you, B." Blair closed her eyes as Serena placed kisses on her forehead and face. "This is nice."
"It is. You know what would be nicer?" Blair tucked her head on Serena's shoulder and let her fingers drift down Serena's chest.
"If I let you feel me up again?" Serena captured the hand that swatted at her shoulder.
"I know I kind of surprised you yesterday," Blair blushed down to her roots and felt her pulse pick up remembering how easy it was to get lost in Serena's soft skin. Then her train of thought vanished as Serena rolled and settled her body on top of Blair's.
"It was the best kind of surprise. I hadn't let myself think about you touching me like that," Serena quietly confessed. "And now I'm having trouble thinking about anything else."
The last of the day's light angled oddly through the windows and cast half of Serena's face in shadows. "S…"
Serena's mouth descended upon hers with agonizing slowness and she flashed back to their first kiss in the rain. Blair pushed her hands into thick blonde hair and opened her mouth to meet Serena's unhurried kiss. They both wanted more, but their emotional and physical exhaustion was a barrier neither could overcome.
Blair found herself swimming in green eyes, having no idea how long they kissed or when it ended. Serena was braced on one arm and her free hand drew lazy figure eights just below the hollow of Blair's throat.
"I'm glad that I know…now, that you…haven't…before." Serena's voice was a whisper and she couldn't quite meet the brown eyes looking up at her.
"Why? Were you planning to ravage me and now you aren't? Well, that's disappointing." Blair's flippant remark earned her a poke in the ribs.
"I'm being serious, B. I know you've had a… fantasy…uh…ideas about los-…that night for years. So… now I can…do that for you...give you a perfect night… when you're ready." Serena felt the heat rise on her face and wondered when she became an awkward teenage boy.
She pressed her fingers against Serena's mouth. "I'm going to blame the fact that you seem to forget I threw myself at you yesterday morning on the Eric situation."
"Trust me, I haven't forgotten, but," Serena mumbled against Blair's fingertips, which were immediately pressed a little more firmly against her lips.
Blair turned her head and pressed her lips to Serena's palm. "The fantasy I had, it doesn't exist anymore. You don't have anything to live up to."
Serena wrapped Blair in tight hug and rolled onto her back. She reached up and tucked long brown locks behind Blair's ear. "Your first time should be special. If," at Blair's pointed look she amended, "when you share that with me…I just want it to be everything you hoped it would. I don't want you to have any regrets."
"What about what you want?" Blair felt herself melting into Serena's body as warm hands rubbed wide circles on her back.
"I just want to love you." The sincerity of the simple statement left Blair speechless. She snuggled closer and tried to memorize the feel of Serena's face with her fingertips.
Serena sighed, her voice still tinged with exhaustion. "I love your touch, B."
Blair drew her fingertips down Serena's throat before coming to rest on bare shoulders. She felt the motion of Serena's hands on her back begin to slow. "Are you falling asleep?"
"Yeah and I can't. I need to get back to the hospital and check on Eric." But she didn't move. The stroke of Blair's fingers over her shoulder and down her arm was hypnotic and she couldn't muster the will to break the contact.
"Will Lily send him back to the Ostroff Center?"
"No. Not until she finds out how he got hurt." She thought of how much Eric wanted to be home and that he'd most likely get his wish. "I just hope she doesn't make him go back once the investigation is done and he's healed." Serena rubbed a hand over her face and tried to find some energy.
As much as she wanted to, she couldn't continue to hold Blair and go back to sleep; she felt guilty that she was even thinking about it when her brother lay bruised in a hospital bed. She kissed Blair's temple and rolled away from the young woman that gave her sanctuary in the face of her brother's injury and her emotional breakdown as she cried pent up tears in the shower.
Blair rose up on her elbow and watched as Serena's towel clad body moved across the room. She selfishly wanted Serena to come back to bed…to cuddle, to sleep…she didn't care as long as they were together. She heard the water running in the bathroom and she knew that moment was over for the day.
It was a little scary how quickly the ache appeared once Serena was out of touching distance. She fell back against the bed and took a long, deep breath. Eric. She knew that's where her mind needed to be. But with her body newly awake, thoughts having less to do with Eric and everything to do with his sister pushed into Blair's mind, demanding attention.
"So she'll bring him back here?"
Serena appeared in doorway, toothbrush tucked in the side of her mouth. "Yeah, I guess."
"I think you should stay with me at the penthouse."
"Our mothers wouldn't go agree to that. Would they?"
"It makes sense. The van der Woodsen suite will be short one bed and casa de Waldorf has an open guest room."
Serena gave Blair a fake wounded look. "You're going to banish me to the guest room?"
"No, but that's what we're going to tell your mother."
Lily looked pointedly at her children. "Eric, until you're healed, you'll be staying with me in the suite. And Serena, I've already secured a single for you. It's on another floor which doesn't please me, but it will have to do for now. Is everyone clear about the sleeping arrangements?"
Serena shot a quick smile at Eric and answered her mother in the affirmative before turning to her girlfriend; Blair was fighting very hard to keep a cat that ate the canary smile off her face. It wasn't what they had hoped for. It was better.
The End